Gail Collins (born November 25, 1945[1]) is an American journalist, op-edcolumnist and author, most recognized for her work with the New York Times.[2][3] Joining the Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial board, from 2001 to 2007 she served as the paper's Editorial PageEditor – the first woman to attain that position.[2] Collins writes a semi-weekly op-ed column for the Times, published Thursdays and Saturdays.[2] In 2014 she co-authored a blog with David Brooks, "The Conversation," at NYTimes.com, featuring political commentary.[4]

Following graduation from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she wrote for Connecticut publications, including the Hartford Advocate,[7] and, in 1972, founded the Connecticut State News Bureau, a news service providing coverage of the state capital and Connecticut politics.[8] When she sold the bureau in 1977, it had grown into the largest service of its kind in the United States.[8] As a freelance writer in the late 1970s she wrote weekly columns for the Connecticut Business Journal and was a public affairs host for Connecticut Public Television.[8][9]

Collins joined The New York Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial board,[6] and later as an op-ed columnist. In 2001, she was named the paper's first female Editorial PageEditor, a position she held for six years. She resigned from this post at the beginning of 2007 to take a six-month leave to focus on writing her book When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, returning to the Times as a regular columnist in July 2007.[2]

Beyond her work as a journalist, Collins has published several books: The Millennium Book, which she co-authored with her husband, CBS News producer Dan Collins; Scorpion Tongues: Gossip, Celebrity and American Politics; America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines; the aforementioned When Everything Changed; and As Texas Goes: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda.[2][10][11] She also wrote the introduction for the 50th anniversary edition of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan; the 50th anniversary edition was published in 2013.[12]